


Devoted

by gaysinspace



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Discovery
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Getting Together, Hugh is the hot nurse at her school, M/M, Paul has a daughter
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-31
Updated: 2017-12-31
Packaged: 2019-02-24 12:44:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13214031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gaysinspace/pseuds/gaysinspace
Summary: Cecilia Pauline Stamets was very observant for her age. She could tell, for example, that her dad felt most at home in a lab. She could tell that her dad rarely ever functioned without a cup of coffee in the mornings.She could also tell that her dad seemed to be nicer around Nurse Hugh, and she couldn't quite understand why.--The one where Paul is a dad, his daughter is a little adventurous genius who is prone to injury and Hugh is the nurse Paul gets to see on his increasingly frequent trips to the nurse's office at his daughter's kindergarten.





	Devoted

**Author's Note:**

> This has been the product of several months of thinking and procrastinating. I couldn't get this AU out of my head, and now it's finally out there.
> 
> Unbeta'd for now, I really wanted to get it out there as soon as possible.

Paul Stamets could be described as many things.

As a genius, for example, a world he heard increasingly often the more he developed his research. An innovator, too, spending day and night in the lab fighting for new breakthroughs. A workaholic, he supposed, a word mostly used by his colleagues and the few who allowed themselves to be called his “friends” (he would much rather call it dedication, thank you very much).

One of the things Paul Stamets could  _ not _ be described as, however, was graceful. Despite his impressive abilities and coordination in a controlled lab setting, he could hold on to none of these traits in his everyday life. If there was a flat surface within a 50 meter radius, Paul would find at least 18 different ways to trip on it. And that was on a good day.

To say he was prone to injury would be an extreme understatement. Throughout the entirety of his Starfleet career he had cut, sprained, broken, twisted and generally harmed essentially every part of his body. He had been forced to take increasingly less pleasant trips to the sickbay. Hell, he’d probably been to the sickbay more times than he’d even bothered to show up for his classes.

Of course, it was only right that his same misfortune and knack for clumsiness would somehow be passed onto his daughter. Maybe it was a side effect of his spending so much time around her when she was barely a baby. Then again, Straal wasn’t much better at the whole coordination thing than he was.

Cecilia Pauline Stamets was not his biological daughter, per se, but that had never mattered. From the day she was born and he’d seen the pair of glimmering brown eyes on her, he had sworn to protect her from whatever harm dared to come her way, no matter the personal cost. Cecilia was born of an unexpected and short-lived romance between his work colleague Straal and a Vorta he met while on a Starfleet-sponsored research mission. An unexpected attack on the federation starbase they were staying on claimed the life of Cecilia’s mother, and Straal returned to Alpha Centauri a single father.

Straal had made Paul one of Cecilia’s legal guardians upon his return, much to Paul’s never-ending surprise. He had never imagined a life where he would be responsible for a child, much less Cecilia, yet now he couldn’t possibly imagine a life without her.

Straal was killed several months later during a test run of their experimental spore drive on the  _ USS Glenn _ . Cecilia was 16 months old. She had been referring to Paul as “dada” for 8 of those months.

As a single father, his day mostly consisted of work, more work and work underlined by the constant worry of how his child was doing. Ever since Cecilia became old enough to be dropped off at daycare regularly, a considerable portion of Paul’s brain was dedicated to concern, which significantly increased his own risk for injury. The day Cecilia was old enough to start going to kindergarten was the day the fear dissipated and instead transformed into absolute  _ dread _ .

“It’s just all the kids” Paul had complained to Tilly, the young yet brilliant cadet assisting him in his research and one of the few people he would willingly admit to enjoying the company of.

“Yes, last time I checked there did seem to be a lot of kids in kindergarten. Solid observation.”

Paul huffed, checking his watch out of reflex before remembering Cecilia was spending the afternoon over at a friends.

“Obviously. But it’s…  _ kids,  _ Tilly. Kids are terrible, and loud, and mean, and overall just an absolutely unnecessary hazard.”

“Would you rather she spend her time in the lab hanging out with you and your merry mushroom bunch?” Tilly teased, taking a sip of the drink in front of her.

“I mean, she’s definitely smart enough to be some help at the lab and honestly those children have nothing to contribute to her that mushrooms can't”. Paul had enough self-control not to look offended when Tilly snorted at his comment, settling for an accusing look in her direction instead.

“Look, Paul: kids suck. Kids are loud, annoying and… overall pretty terrible. But Cece is a kid, too. She needs her share of loud and annoying and terrible, and despite how astonishingly immature and obnoxious you sometimes are, you can't give it to her”

“‘Despite how astonishingly immature and obnoxious you sometimes are, _ sir _ ’” Paul reminded her half-heartedly, attempting to avoid the fact that Tilly was right. He pinched his nose as he felt a headache begin to form, responding through a frustrated sigh. “Fine, sure, I guess. I just wish I could keep her safe. I just wish I could keep her in my sight at all times and protect her from all the bad that tries to come her way. Is that selfish?”

“No, that’s just the father in you” Tilly said softly, extending a hand to rest on Paul’s shoulder. “Sometimes you need to throw them to the wolves to make sure they’re able to fight them off.”

After a short squeeze, Tilly removed her hand from his shoulder and used it instead to call over a waiter.

“Besides, if I recall correctly, that kid is a badass. Remember the time Lorca tried to sneak up on her?”

“Oh, yeah” Paul smiled fondly, feeling the tension in his shoulders finally begin to dissipate.

“She turned around and kicked him so hard in the shin he visibly flinched when he had to walk for the next day” he sighed happily, leaning back in his seat while Tilly ordered them another round of drinks. “I’m so proud of her”.

 

* * *

 

At the age of five years old, Cecilia Stamets had a keen awareness of the world seldom seen in children her age. She admired every new thing in her path with a gaze full of wonder, and was constantly pushing to know more and see more. Her dad had taught her that the greatest marvels didn’t lie in the starships man had created to navigate the stars, but rather in the natural universe itself. The ever-expanding possibilities and dimensions always lying just out of reach, the natural laws built into all the chaos. She thirsted for it, wanted nothing more than to dig her hands into the dirt and find out the secrets that lied past the artificial floors of the man-made structures on the planet.

 

In line with her constant search for the wonders of nature, and the natural inclination for leadership she seemed to have been born with, Cecilia decided it a good idea to lead an expeditionary team of three young classmates into the bush surrounding her new classroom. What the little explorer had not predicted, however, was the mild allergic reaction she would have to one of the species of plant she and her classmates encountered on their fearless journey. This was how, on the fifth day of Cecilia’s educational life, Paul got his first call from the nurse’s office.

 

* * *

 

Paul startled as the hailing ring of his comm ripped into his focus, flipping it open with one hand and allowing it to transmit on speaker in order to keep collecting data from the specimens in front of him.

“This is Stamets. Speak.” he said simply, assuming whoever was on the other end of the line knew how busy he was and therefore know they better make this quick. He wouldn’t be surprised if it was one of the useless cadets Starfleet had forced him to take on asking for basic instructions. Not all could be as competent as Tilly, much to Paul’s frustration.

He was about to shut off the comm when the reply didn’t come immediately, huffing indignantly and beginning to reach for the device. That’s when a voice finally began to speak.

“Mr. Paul Stamets?” an unfamiliar voice on the line questioned. He quirked his eyebrow at the unfamiliar form of address, not having been referred to as  _ Mr. _ ever since he began his work at Starfleet.

“ _ Lieutenant  _ Stamets, yes.” he corrected quickly. He wasn’t one to really care about formalities, but climbing through the ranks in Starfleet was hard enough  _ without _ being the mushroom guy, so he would take his victories where he could claim them.

Paul was beginning to get annoyed with the silent interval between responses. He shifted his attention to his PADD, figuring that whatever it was didn’t require the full extent of his attention.

“I’m calling from the nurse’s office” came the voice from the other end of the line, and the only noise Paul could register after that was the  _ clang _ as his PADD dropped onto the table, his blood running cold. Quickly snatching the comm and putting it to his ear, he began to slip his arm into the uniform jacket he had hung on the back of his chair. Heads began to turn from the other scientists in the lab, yet quickly they turned back to their work. Stamets rushing out with no warning was hardly any news.

“What happened?” he said into the receiver, jaw clenching as he frantically punched in his code make his way out of the lab. The kindergarten was an 8.5 minute walk away, 5 if he really made a run for it. The man on the other end of the line began to speak again, and Paul had to press his ear closer to the comm in order to hear him over the sound of his feet slamming against the metal floor.

“Your daughter had a very mild allergic reaction to one of the specimens of plant in the play area. At this age, it’s very common for children to get these kinds of allergies and for them to disappear as they get older. Their immune systems are still working on building their defenses”. He knew the mans words were supposed to be calming him down, but instead they just pushed him to increase his pace once more. He should’ve known, he should’ve been aware of this in the first place. Stupid lack of foresight on his part.

“It’s really nothing to worry about, Lieutenant. The allergy presented itself in the form of a rash and I administered a non-invasive allergen spray. There were no effects on her respiratory system or any other kind of symptoms, and the rash should be gone within the hour.”

“Is she there?” Paul asked simply, not bothering to respond to the plethora of information being thrown his way. He knew how allergies worked, he didn’t need a step-by-step guide from some kindergarten nurse.

“We are keeping her in the nurse’s office for observation, but when the rash heals we will be able to send her on her way. We try not to interrupt the children’s schedules to the best of our abilities. It’s truly no--”

“I’m on my way” Paul barked into the receiver, not bothering to let the man finish his sentence. His heart hammered against his ribcage, dozens of scenarios and scientific papers rushing through his brain. Cecilia had never shown any signs of allergies before, at least not to plant life commonly found on the planet. Could it be the kindergarten had foreign species? He jogged his memory, attempting to remember the tour he had taken of the classroom.

Sure enough, the kindergarten kept a small area of alien plant species. He vaguely recalled the headmaster of the school talking about how it encouraged the kids to develop caretaking instincts, and stimulated their minds in a search for knowledge. Paul hadn’t listened at the time, too busy watching the smile on Cecilia’s face as she took in her new playground. He should’ve listened, he really should’ve paid more fucking attention.

It was both a virtue and a curse, his inclination towards taking responsibility, even for situations which truly weren’t his fault.

Paul only allowed himself to breathe properly once he rounded the corner where the kindergarten stoodt, his pace slowing down fractionally to not disturb the classes in session around him. He halted in the main foyer, eyes scanning for a map or a sign to point him in the right direction.

“Whenever I see a parent as dishevelled and desperate as you are, I assume they’re looking for the nurse’s office” came a voice from behind him. He hadn’t even noticed the man sitting behind an information desk in his agitated state. “It’s that way: down the hall, take a right and you can’t miss it.”

Stamets raised his hand in the direction of the man as a thank you, settling on a jog as he followed the instructions.

Paul didn’t really know what he was expecting when he got there. Half of his brain expected everything to be chaos, things to be on fire, children screaming. That was the anxious, oh-my-fucking-god-my-child-is-in-danger-I’ll-fight-if-I-have-to parenting half of his brain speaking. Logically, he knew nothing would be out of the ordinary, a couple crying kids if anything.

What he really didn’t expect was the  _ laughter _ he heard as he burst through the doors to the nurse’s office, breathing heavily. A couple of heads turned, some of the nurses taking in his dishevelled appearance with a raised eyebrow. The office was painted in a calming shade of blue, matching the muted pastel of the medical personnel’s uniform. He could only assume the modified color scheme was meant to induce calm in the children. His eyes scanned quickly over the beds lined up against the wall, not seeing his daughter in any of them.

“Cecilia Stamets?” Paul demanded, not bothering with manners. A purple-skinned nurse pointed to her right, speaking softly: “last bed on the left, Nurse Culber pulled the curtain shut so the other kids wouldn’t make her nervous.”

Paul spared her a nod in lieu of a thank you, attempting to regulate his breathing as he walked. He stopped before the curtain, taking a moment to run his hand through his hair and fix his appearance. The last thing he wanted to do was startle Cecilia with his own parental panic.

He pulled the curtain open slowly, expecting to see her lying on the cot. Instead, he found her sitting up, a soft peal of laughter escaping from her lips as she gazed with wonder at a PADD sitting on her lap. From what Paul could see it was an underwater image, fish swimming by and one or two curious ones stopping by the recording equipment to investigate, making it seem like they were looking directly at her. She laughed again, attempting to tap the fish through the screen of the PADD. A man sat in a chair in front of her, someone he could only assume was Nurse Culber.

“Hey there Cece” Paul said gently, trying not to disturb the calm environment in the room. It was of no use, because as soon as his daughter set eyes on him she squealed and let out a shrill “Dada!”. The only thing stopping her from straight up jumping off the bed and running towards him was the calming hand of the nurse on her arm.

Paul stepped forward instead, allowing Cecilia’s arms to wrap around his neck and her hands to pull on the collar of his uniform jacket. He wrapped his arms around her torso, burying his face in her hair and giving himself a few seconds to feel her there. Warm, alive, safe. His panic slowly began to fade.

Paul pulled back, smoothing down her hair with one hand as she beamed up at him. With a quick step, he pulled back and straightened his posture, letting go of his daughter to clasp his hands together behind his back.

“Cadet Cecilia, damage report.” Cece failed in her attempt at hiding her smile, feigning seriousness as she responded to her father’s query. It was a game they liked to play, ever since Paul had taken her to the lab for the first time all she wanted was to be in Starfleet.

“Minor injuries! Dr. Nurse Culber gave me an allergy-- aller _ gen  _ spray to fix the ugly rash. He says I’m all good for my next mission, right Dr. Nurse?”. Cecilia looked at Nurse Culber for approval of her medical assessment, and only then did Paul really register the man’s presence in the room.

“That assessment is indeed correct, Cadet Cecilia” Nurse Culber replied, a soft smile forming on his lips.

And, holy  _ shit _ , the man had quite a presence. In his tunnel-visioned state he had failed to notice the unfairly good-looking man currently playing along with his daughter. His brain was struggling to function adequately, not transitioning from his panicked state to the more calmed demeanor the situation apparently required. Thanks to this short-circuit, he found himself staring.

The other man didn’t seem to notice, raising his hand politely to offer Paul a handshake. It probably didn’t help that Paul’s eyes quickly moved from his face to stare at his arms instead, the blue uniform really complimenting his physique.

“Nurse Culber, I was the one who commed you”.

“No,  _ Doctor _ Nurse Culber! He was in charge of the rescue for our exploration party!” Cece mentioned brightly, giggling to herself.

“Sorry,  _ Dr. _ Nurse Culber”. The nurse looked to Cece for approval, and she offered an encouraging thumbs up before going back to looking at the fish swimming by on the screen.

“Cece was fearlessly leading an exploration of the garden’s alien plant section when the reaction occurred, I was the one to bring her in.”

Paul managed to shake himself out of his reverie just in time, extending his hand towards the other man. He couldn't help but feel a beam of pride at the knowledge that his daughter had been out there exploring.

“Lieutenant Stamets” he said, quite idiotically. Of course he knew who he was. They shook hands, Paul attempting to point his focus back towards his daughter.

“I assumed” the other man replied, smile still playing on his lips. “You got here in an impressive amount of time, I was preparing to settle in with Cecilia for at least another 20 minutes.”

Paul had to do his best to banish the image of Culber playing with his daughter while they awaited his arrival from his head. He seemed to have an easy connection with her, and with Cece that was a very rare thing. Paul assumed she got that from him.

“The lab is only a couple of blocks away, I chose this kindergarten so I could stay close to Cece in case anything happened”. He wasn’t quite sure why he added that final piece of information, but from the way Nurse Culber’s eyes softened slightly he assumed it didn’t hurt.

“Well, Cece will be just fine. The reaction was minor and the rash is already beginning to show signs of improvement, you can take her home if you--”. He was interrupted by Cece excitedly squealing, turning to look at her father.

“Dada, look! It’s a pretty fish!”

Paul offered Culber a polite smile before stepping back next to Cece, leaning down to see what she was looking at.

“That’s a  _ betta splendens _ , known also as a Siamese fighting fish”. Cecilia nodded her head minutely, something she did unconsciously whenever she was offered a new piece of information. She wrinkled her nose, tilting the PADD as she pointed to another fish. “This one looks mean”

Paul studied the fish quickly, humming to himself when he recognized the species.

“That one’s a Giant pangasius, dear”. 

Cece nodded again, nose still wrinkled.

“Giant meanie fish” she concluded, settling on her own personalized name for the specimen.

Paul smiled down at her fondly, her attention returning to the plethora of fish swimming before her eyes. He turned his attention to the nurse, who stood in front of the bed with crossed arms as he observed Cecilia.

“Is this footage from the Mekong basin?” Paul asked simply. The nurse raised an eyebrow, taking a step forward and tapping on the PADD to reveal the information for the video.

“Yes, it appears it is. How could you tell?”

Paul couldn’t hold back a huff of laughter.

“ _ Betta splendens  _ and  _ panganius sanitwongsei _ together in one area? Kind of hard to miss.”

Culber raised an eyebrow again, studying Paul, yet made no comment on the matter.

“I study the natural world” Paul stated, attention focused on his daughter. “However my focus is in astromycology.”.

“So it’s mushrooms for you, then?” the nurse said. Paul turned his gaze to him, preparing for the laughter or jokes that usually accompanied the revelation (he’d heard more  _ fungi _ jokes in his life than he could count). However, Culber didn’t show any signs of ridicule, instead he showed what Paul could only describe as genuine interest. Huh.

“Yeah, space mushrooms are kind of my thing. Cece is more into aquatic life, as you can tell. The only reason I know the species is because she wants to learn more about fish”. Paul felt embarrassed, for some reason, turning around to sit next to Cece on the bed.

“Hey Cece, Dr. Nurse Culber says you’re all cured and good to go.” He frowned as Cece pouted at him, and he immediately turned to the nurse.

“Do you think you could send me this footage? I think she might stay here forever if I don’t get it to her at home.”

“Of course” came the man’s reply, already stepping forward to retrieve his PADD. Cecilia reluctantly gave it back, hopping off the bed and beginning to walk towards the door.

“Cadet Cecilia” the nurse said, and Cece quickly turned around with a smile at hearing her title.

“You did very well today, and for your bravery out in the field I give you this medal of valor”. Culber retrieved a small Starfleet insignia pin from the pocket on his uniform, crouching down to place it on the lapel of Cecilia’s jacket. She beamed up at him, chin held high as she received this high honor.

“Great job, Cadet” the nurse whispered to her as if they were sharing a secret. He raised his hand for a high-five and Cece complied enthusiastically. Culber stood, shrugging slightly when he noticed the curious look Paul was giving him.

“The kids love them, we keep a supply around for the little explorers in each new class”.

“Dada look!” Cece tugged on the bottom of his jacket, encouraging him to shift his focus away from Hugh in order to look at her new acquisition. Paul smiled down at her, running his hand through her hair. “I know sweetie, you’re a real cadet now.”

Cece nodded enthusiastically, beginning to run towards the door, presumably eager to show off her pin to the world. “Thank you Dr. Nurse Culber!” she shouted, and Paul had to double his pace in order to catch up with her.

“Thank you!” he shouted over his shoulder, and was able to see the other man let out a short laugh as he booked it through the door. When he finally caught up with his daughter, he took her hand to make sure she wouldn’t run off on him again.

They made their way out of the kindergarten and onto the street, walking in companionable silence as Cece looked at the world around her.

“Dr. Nurse was very nice” she said suddenly, eyes fixed on the street in front of her.

“Yes, he was” Paul replied nonchalantly, used to the small talk his daughter liked to make.

“And dada was nice to Dr. Nurse”.

Paul stumbled on his next step, turning his head to look curiously at his daughter. He supposed he wasn’t the nicest of guys most of the time, but for his daughter to take notice of a change in attitude indicated he was quite pricklier than he thought he was.

“Well, Dr. Nurse was very nice to Cece, so dad was nice to Dr. Nurse” he settled. If there was one way to get Paul to play nice, it was to charm Cece. He was too in love with his daughter to ever be rude to anyone she liked. At least not in her presence.

 

It was only when they were in front of their building that Paul realized: he’d never asked Culber’s first name.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed! You can find me on twitter as @boldlygaying and on tumblr at sspock or spaceboos. 
> 
> Comments are fuel to my tiny gay heart.


End file.
